Just to let everyone know,…the motorhome is now fixed. And we have made it to Kelso, Washington and started our 40 Day Grand West Coast Tour!! Of course, we didn’t get here without some last minute drama!!
As we left Kelso, we went 4 miles and the check engine light went on. Ugh! So,…back to the repair shop. Something was not hooked up correctly, so we were on our way within the hour. We were on I-5 in California, heading north. There is now a new fire just north of Redding. It grew from 2 acres to over 200 in a matter of an hour or so. And it has closed I-5. It has been closed for almost a week as the fire is on both sides of the highway and not under control. We got north about 1 1/2 hours before it broke out. God is definitely in control.
So, we have made it to Kelso!
While we were waiting for the motorhome to be repaired, we went to Lassen Volcanic National Park for the day. It’s another one of our fabulous national parks! Lassen Volcano is pretty active. It hasn’t erupted for a long time, but there is a lot of earthquake activity there. There was a small earthquake south of the mountain the day before we were there. Yikes!
Following are pictures of various stops we made.
This is a hot, bubbling, stinky sulphur spring.
And, here’s Lucky!!
We had planned on spending 3-4 days at Mt. Rainier National Park. That was one place we really wanted to see! Lemons were still being turned into lemonade! We got to Kelso a couple of days before we were to start our tour, so we took a day trip to Mt. Rainier!
Mt. Rainier is so majestic!! It’s 14,410 feet at the summit. We got close enough to feel like you could reach out and touch it! We were at 5200 feet at the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center.
Here is our first glimpse of Mt. Rainier, from about 30 miles away! It was the only mountain that had a “halo”/”spaceship” cloud around it.
Finally to the park!
AWESOME!!
There are many waterfalls and several areas where there have been rock slides and avalanches. Parts of the park are kept open all winter, depending if they can get the snow plowed.
In these next few pictures, there are hikers on the glacier. If you look toward the top, you should see a trail and little specks. It gives you an idea as to the massive size of the volcano/mountain!
These pictures are taken at the visitor’s center, the closest we could get without hiking up the mountain!
This is the Camp Lodge that is being rebuilt.
A few more pictures of majestic Mt. Rainier from another angle!
On Saturday, we drove to Des Moines, Washington, south of Seattle to see my only living aunt, and my cousin and his wife. We had a great lunch visit and could have talked all afternoon! We hope it won’t be too long before we see them again!
We also caught up with some good friends that we met on the Grand East Coast Trip!
Sunday we were able to worship in Vancouver, Washington.
We have seen everything we had on our to-see list, except the Columbia River Gorge. Not bad for being held up for 10 days! We have been able to do all these marvelous things, only by the grace of God.
Now we are ready to start our Grand West Coast Adventure!! A little sneak peak…we saw Mt. Saint Helen’s today!! Another one of God’s great creations! Stay tuned!!
An update…I-5 is has 1 lane open in both directions for non-flammable carrying vehicles!
Grand West Coast Adventure 